| Wednesday, July 07, 2010 | ||
| Stone-Age Morality | ||
Once upon a time in 21st century Persia, a woman slept with a man who was not her husband and who was then implicated in the murder of said husband. Either that or she confessed under duress to having committed adultery with this man, as her two children would like to believe. It doesn't really matter, after all, she was a bad egg, according to the folks in Northwestern Iran. And nobody likes a bad egg, especially not a bad female egg. That's why all their womenfolk are well packaged and perfectly disciplined. So when one egg breaks, even if someone else has crushed it, order and moral hygiene must be restored at once.  So, enter 43-year old Sakineh Ashtiani. Or should we say exit. Because her country is so righteous, they didn't waste time in serving her the punishment that the law entitled immediately after her court case in 2006. She was brought to the public square and flogged 99 times. Yes, I did say 2006. After receiving her punishment she was released, but some months later our protagonist was rearrested after another court decided she needed a different punishment for the same crime - death by stoning. There may not be an enlightened or moral way of putting a person to death, but I can certainly say that a lethal injection, shooting squad or hanging is less bestial than burying a woman up to her shoulders and flinging medium-sized stones (as prescribed by the judges) at her head and face until she dies. And why are 9 out of every 10 stonings done to women? More about this at The Global Campaign to Stop Killing and Stoning Women But on a happy note, with all the international attention being drawn to her plight and accusations of human rights abuse and undue process, I think Ashtiani will eventually be pardoned. She'll be released from prison to her home where she can dress in a black body veil, behave according strict dictates and be scorned as an adulteress for the rest of her days. I don't suppose she'll be getting too many suitors knocking at her door. Ah, the bells of freedom... |
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